Social dialogue in Côte d'Ivoire.

Summary Social dialogue in Côte d'Ivoire, encouraged and promoted by the ILO within the framework of decent work, has a large institutional network and many actors. It is an instrument of governance, in that it involves the State, the workers and the employers. Its aim is to promote social peace, which is essential for any economic development. Social dialogue in Côte d'Ivoire is gradually being implemented in the public sector and is being consolidated in the private sector. Its use during periods of crisis has made it possible to take into account the interests of workers and ensure the safeguarding and competitiveness of companies. Although its advantages are known and praised by the actors, social dialogue remains insufficiently exploited and fundamentally instrumentalized. The public authorities use it to seduce and reassure the various institutional partners in economic development about their commitment to good governance and the use of good practices. In addition to the inadequacy of the legal framework (lack of formal affirmation of the right to collective bargaining or even collective autonomy), workers' organizations, a major player in social dialogue, remain weak and dependent on politics. All these weaknesses prevent real progress in Ivorian social dialogue.